Individual training leave

Employees, self-employed people and professionals can request individual training leave or training leave of up to 80 days over the course of their professional career.

01 Purpose

In order to obtain individual training leave, employees must:

Be habitually employed at a workplace located in Luxembourg,

Have an employment contract with a company or association that is legally based and active in Luxembourg,

Have at least 6 months' service with their employer when the leave request is made.

Self-employed people and professionals must have been registered with Luxembourg social security for at least 2 years.

Applicants do not need to meet any age or residency conditions.

Individual training leave enables the recipient to:

Attend training courses,

Prepare for and sit examinations,

Write dissertations,

Complete any other work related to a qualifying training course.

02 Examples

Pierre, holder of a Technical and vocational training certificate (CATP/DAP), is preparing his Master Craftsmanship (Brevet de Maîtrise).

Pierre, 25 and holder of a Technical and vocational training certificate (CATP/DAP) has been employed for 2 years at a hairdressing salon. However, he plans to open his own salon and become the Manager of the business. He decides to register for training which will lead to the Master Craftsmanship (Brevet de Maîtrise), a training course that usually lasts for 3 years.

Pierre finds out about the terms and conditions for individual training leave as he has heard that his training course qualifies for this leave. Indeed, for every 2-year period he can obtain a maximum of 20 days of additional paid leave. Although the ministry in question will inform Pierre of the exact figure, he already knows that 3 days of training normally entitles you to 1 day of leave. His boss will receive an allowance from the State to compensate for his absence.

Marie, an assistant caregiver, is attending on-the-job training to become a caregiver

Marie, 30, has worked for a short time in a transition house in Luxembourg as an Assistant Social Educator. She enjoys the job and is ready to start studying again. She registers with a school in Belgium that offers the chance to gain a Graduate Social Educator Certificate (diplôme d’éducateur gradué) through on-the-job training.

The certificate is recognised in Luxembourg. In order to obtain additional paid leave, she submits a request for individual training leave to the ministry of national Education, Children and Youth (Ministère de l’Education nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse - MENJE). In addition to the special leave, Marie would like to deduct her registration fees from her tax return.

She contacts her tax office. If the invoice exceeds the minimum lump sum of €540 that every employee receives, Marie can deduct the fees from her tax return.

Kévin, a young finance graduate, is preparing a distance learning specialisation certificate.

Kévin, 26, has worked with a Luxemburgish financial establishment for one year. In order to quickly progress in his career, he would like to specialise and plans to register for a high-level distance-learning training course. The diploma he will gain is recognised in Luxembourg. Following negotiations, Kévin's boss is prepared to pay half of the costs.

His boss can include this expense in the cofinancing request for training that he will file with the MENJE. Kévin is also collating all of the documents required to request individual training leave.

This special leave benefits both him and his company: Kévin will be granted additional leave days (3 training days = 1 leave day), and the company receives an allowance for the special leave days granted to Kévin.

03 Eligible training

Qualifying training may be provided in Luxembourg or abroad by:

Institutions with public or private school status recognised by the public authorities, and issuing certificates recognised by these same authorities,

Professional chambers,

Local authorities,

Foundations, individuals and private associations individually approved for such purpose by the ministry,

Ministries, civil services and public establishments.

Training may or may not have a direct link to the trainee's current position. It may be held during working hours, in the evenings or at the weekend.

Training financed by other legal provisions does not qualify.

04 Process

The employee sends his/her request to the ministry of national Education, Children and Youth (Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse - MENJE) Vocational Training Service (Service de la Formation Professionnelle) 2 months prior to the start of the leave sought. He/she must therefore:

Download and fill in the request form,

Obtain his/her employer's decision regarding his/her request,

Send the duly completed form and the requested documents (employment contract, registration or pre-registration certificate, social security certificate) to the ministry of national Education, Children and Youth (Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse - MENJE).

The employee is informed by letter of the number of days of leave granted. Following the training course he/she must submit the attendance certificates to the employer.

The employer must:

Make a decision on the request submitted by the employee,

Download and complete the reimbursement form, attach the requested documents (attendance certificate(s), payslips for the relevant period, manager's statement showing the exact date(s) of the training leave days actually taken, copy of the ministerial agreement etc.),

Send the duly completed form and the requested documents to the MENJE.

The process for self-employed people and professionals , is similar to the one described above. Only the form and the items requested are different. Following the training course, the self-employed person/professional completes a reimbursement declaration together with an attendance statement and a certificate of income.

Refusal by the employer

In the event of a refusal by the employer:

The leave can be deferred if the absence resulting from the leave sought may have a considerably harmful effect on company operations or the smooth running of annual paid leave for staff,

The employee can still send the request form to the MENJE. The latter will send it to an Advisory Committee, which issues a verdict on the timescales for deferment. The MENJE will make its decision according to this verdict.

05 Number of days and length

Calculating the number of days

The total number of training leave days depends on the length of the training course in hours as set out by the training body.

The number of training hours is converted into the number of work days: 8hrs of training = 1 work day. The resulting quotient is divided by 3 to obtain the number of training leave days. If required, the result is rounded down to the nearest unit.

Maximum length

Each recipient has 80 days of training leave that he/she can take throughout his/her professional career. A maximum of 20 training leave days can be granted over a 2-year period. Each 2-year period begins with the year in which the first individual training leave is taken.

Minimum length

The minimum length of training leave is 1 day. The recipient must therefore register for training lasting at least 24 hours in order to qualify for training leave (24 hours / 8 = 3 days of work / 3 = 1 day of training leave).

For part-time employees, training leave days are calculated in proportion to the working time.

The legal provisions relating to social security and employment protection remain applicable for the duration of the training leave.

06 Compensatory allowance

For employees, each day of leave granted entitles the recipient to a compensatory allowance equal to his/her average daily salary, paid by the employer. The employer advances the allowance and is reimbursed by the State for the amount of the allowance and for the social security contributions paid by the employer.

For self-employed people and professionals, the compensatory allowance paid by the State is based on the income used during the last contributory year as the basis for contributions to the pension insurance scheme.

The compensatory allowance cannot exceed four times the minimum wage for unqualified workers (€7.994,36/grade 794,54 on 1 January 2017).